CompetitorsThin moat

XTB (XTB) — moat facet

Squeezed from two directions by firms with better unit economics on one side and no need to charge at all on the other.

XTB's management report divides its competitive world into three groups, which is a more useful map than any outsider would draw. There are the trading platforms — eToro, Trading 212, Robinhood.1 There are the fintechs, where investing is one feature among many — Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, Revolut.2 And there are the brokers that only do contracts for difference — Plus500, IG Group, CMC Markets, Saxo Bank.3 Separately, in Poland, it lists the bank-owned brokerages: mBank, Santander, BOSSA, PKO BP, ING Securities and Pekao.4

Revenue per active client, 2025, USD3 268Plus500480XTBPlus500 earned USD 792m from 242 440 actives; XTB USD 571m from 1 189 397
The same business, and one of them charges nearly seven times as much a head.

Read as a competitive position, that list says something specific. XTB is not being attacked by a single rival doing the same thing better. It is being squeezed from two directions at once by firms whose economics differ from its own, and the direction it is moving in — away from leveraged derivatives, toward savings — is the direction where its position is weakest.

Against the pure derivative brokers XTB has more clients and worse unit economics. Plus500 earned more money in 2025 than XTB did from a fifth as many active customers.5 Against the zero-commission platforms it is late and undifferentiated. Against Revolut it faces a company for which trading is a seventh of revenue and could be priced at nothing forever.6

The one contest XTB is winning outright is at home, where the banks have held the customer's salary for decades and still lost the brokerage account. Its position on the Warsaw exchange itself is argued on the other side of this collection, on GPW's own competitors page.

One comparison summarises the whole competitive position: revenue per active client of 480 US dollars in 2025, against Plus500's 3 268.7

Moat trajectory: Narrowing

Plus500 out-earned XTB from a fifth as many clients and raised revenue per customer 8 per cent while XTB's fell again. Trading 212 grew United Kingdom revenue 72 per cent and funded accounts 69. Revolut's wealth arm alone earned more than the whole of XTB. Only the Polish bank brokerages are standing still.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
Operating revenue per active client
480 US dollars in 2025, against Plus500's 3 268

XTB earned 2 146 million złoty in 2025 from 1 189 397 active clients, which at the National Bank of Poland's average rate for the year is 480 dollars each. Plus500 earned 792,4 million dollars from 242 440 active customers, or 3 268 each, a record and up 8 per cent. XTB's own figure has fallen from the equivalent of 7 400 złoty in 2020 to 1 800. The competitive question is not the model; it is what each client is worth.

Source: Moat Explorer calculation from XTB and Plus500 FY2025 results ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
Plus500: Six Times the Take, From a Fifth as Many
The same model run for margin instead of scale out-earned XTB by 39 per cent from a fifth as many active clients.
DIG DEEPER 02
Trading 212, eToro and the Platforms That Charge Nothing
The zero-commission platforms are growing faster than XTB at exactly the product its strategy now depends on.
DIG DEEPER 03
Revolut: The Rival Whose Wealth Arm Alone Out-Earns XTB
When trading is a seventh of your revenue you can price it at nothing forever, and XTB has no answer to that.
DIG DEEPER 04
The Bank the Client Already Has
Six Polish bank brokerages hold the customer's salary and still lost the brokerage account - the one contest XTB wins outright.
References
  1. Third-party estimateThere are the trading platforms — eToro, Trading 212, Robinhood.
    Trading 212 UK Limited results for the year ended 31 December 2025 as reported by FinanceFeeds - revenue of 277,6 million pounds against 161,7 million, an increase of 72%, of which trading revenues were 256,9 million and net client interest income 20,6 million; profit before tax of 123,1 million pounds against 52,8 million and net profit of 92,2 million; around 4,5 million funded customer accounts of which 3 million in the United Kingdom, and roughly 25 billion pounds of client assets under administration; funded accounts up 69% and the average number of monthly active users up 84% — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThere are the fintechs, where investing is one feature among many — Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, Revolut.
    Revolut Group Holdings Ltd annual report 2025 - group revenues up 46% to 6,0 billion US dollars from 4,0 billion, with profit before tax of 2,3 billion, up 57%; more than 70 million retail customers and around 0,8 million businesses, up 30% and 33% respectively; Wealth revenue, which includes equities and cryptocurrency trading, up 31% to 876 million dollars from 647 million and 14,7% of total revenue; total customer balances up 66% to 67,5 billion dollars from 38 billion; eleven product lines each exceeding approximately 135 million dollars of revenue, with subscriptions turnover of 936 million, card payments up 45% to 1,3 billion and foreign exchange up 43% to 800 million — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedAnd there are the brokers that only do contracts for difference — Plus500, IG Group, CMC Markets, Saxo Bank.
    Plus500 Ltd preliminary unaudited results for the year ended 31 December 2025 - revenue up 3% to 792,4 million US dollars, EBITDA up 2% to 348,1 million, Active Customers of 242 440 against 254 138 in FY2024, and average revenue per user up 8% year on year to a record annual level of 3 268 dollars, with the non-OTC business generating more than 100 million dollars of revenue for the first time; Plus500 is a CFD-focused brokerage platform founded in 2008, operating in over 50 countries and listed on the London Stock Exchange — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedSeparately, in Poland, it lists the bank-owned brokerages: mBank, Santander, BOSSA, PKO BP, ING Securities and Pekao.
    XTB Group Management Board report on activities in 2025, business model and competitive landscape - the model "combines the features of an agency model with a market maker model, in which the Company is a party to transactions concluded and initiated by clients"; "XTB operates as a market-maker, meaning it is the counterparty to a client's transaction"; "XTB executes all transactions in shares, ETFs, and CFDs based on these assets directly on regulated markets or alternative trading systems. XTB is not a market maker for this class of instruments"; the competitive environment divided into trading platform providers (eToro, Trading 212, Robinhood), fintech companies (Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, Revolut) and CFD-only brokers (Plus500, IG Group, CMC Markets, Saxo Bank), with Polish bank-affiliated brokerages named as mBank Biuro Maklerskie, Santander Biuro Maklerskie, Dom Maklerski Banku Ochrony Srodowiska (BOSSA), PKO BP Biuro Maklerskie, ING Securities and Bank Pekao S.A. Biuro Maklerskie, and XTB described as a market leader in Poland; the planned European ban on the payment-for-order-flow model from 2026; key competitive advantages listed as a wide product range including stocks, ETFs, Investment Plans and CFDs plus interest on free funds, an eWallet with a multi-currency card and long-term savings accounts IKE (Poland), ISA (United Kingdom) and PEA (France); the proprietary xStation platform and XTB mobile app; no commissions up to EUR 100 000 turnover on stocks and ETFs and no withdrawal fees; operations in over 15 countries; regulation by nine financial authorities including the FCA and KNF; client fund segregation; 24/5 support; and the XTB Academy. Brand ambassadors Mads Mikkelsen (2016-2018), Conor McGregor and Iker Casillas (2022-2024) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2024-2026); nearly PLN 585 million allocated to marketing in 2025, up 69,6%, including the largest campaign in the group's history launched in September 2025 across 13 markets including Poland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, the Middle East and Indonesia, and sponsorship at Roland Garros and Wimbledon; the XTB brand dating from 2009 and the word "trading" replaced by "investing" in 2023 — FY2025 · publ. March 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedPlus500 earned more money in 2025 than XTB did from a fifth as many active customers.
    Plus500 Ltd preliminary unaudited results for the year ended 31 December 2025 - revenue up 3% to 792,4 million US dollars, EBITDA up 2% to 348,1 million, Active Customers of 242 440 against 254 138 in FY2024, and average revenue per user up 8% year on year to a record annual level of 3 268 dollars, with the non-OTC business generating more than 100 million dollars of revenue for the first time; Plus500 is a CFD-focused brokerage platform founded in 2008, operating in over 50 countries and listed on the London Stock Exchange — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedAgainst Revolut it faces a company for which trading is a seventh of revenue and could be priced at nothing forever.
    Revolut Group Holdings Ltd annual report 2025 - group revenues up 46% to 6,0 billion US dollars from 4,0 billion, with profit before tax of 2,3 billion, up 57%; more than 70 million retail customers and around 0,8 million businesses, up 30% and 33% respectively; Wealth revenue, which includes equities and cryptocurrency trading, up 31% to 876 million dollars from 647 million and 14,7% of total revenue; total customer balances up 66% to 67,5 billion dollars from 38 billion; eleven product lines each exceeding approximately 135 million dollars of revenue, with subscriptions turnover of 936 million, card payments up 45% to 1,3 billion and foreign exchange up 43% to 800 million — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedOne comparison summarises the whole competitive position: revenue per active client of 480 US dollars in 2025, against Plus500's 3 268.
    Plus500 Ltd preliminary unaudited results for the year ended 31 December 2025 - revenue up 3% to 792,4 million US dollars, EBITDA up 2% to 348,1 million, Active Customers of 242 440 against 254 138 in FY2024, and average revenue per user up 8% year on year to a record annual level of 3 268 dollars, with the non-OTC business generating more than 100 million dollars of revenue for the first time; Plus500 is a CFD-focused brokerage platform founded in 2008, operating in over 50 countries and listed on the London Stock Exchange — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026